In today’s demanding online world, churches are being asked by their communities to increasingly provide new, exciting and engaging content on the web. Many traditional church web sites are little more than an electronic brochure which only allow static content and require personnel trained in html to make the simplest of modifications.
Enter a different kind of web technology that allows the owner to enter content at will, change settings as well as look and feel, all with the click of a button. The Content Management System [1](usually called a CMS) is a technology which uses a database to store all the content and then dynamically creates the page when it is requested. The all important feature however is that all content creation and site management can be performed in a web browser using a word processor like interface and tools.
This means that any authorised person can add, delete, move and edit content anywhere they can get online. It can be edited at home, work, school and increasingly anywhere you have access to the web via your phone. No longer is the school tied to a particular web developer each time they wish to modify their page. This releases them (and significant portions of their budget) to focus on their key purpose, learning and teaching.
CMS’s come in many flavours. Fortunately many are available under the GNU General Public License [2] which means the basic setup is available for download at no financial cost. Two popular CMS’s available under the GPL licence are Drupal[3] and Joomla[4]. Both use the common MySQL[5] database which is also available under the GPL licence and available on most web hosting services.
Setup of both of these systems is easy and some hosting services (such as Media Temple[6]) even include “1 click installs†which takes out most of the pain.
Design however is not the usual domain of a code monkey and you will require the services of a suitable graphic designer who works closely with the developer to ensure good design. In the current global economy and with the nature of this kind of work, it can be done anywhere in the world!
The Future of Media Summit 2008 is on RIGHT NOW and will be of interest to Digital Church readers. It is being hosted simultaneously in Silicon Valley USA and Sydney Australia via link up.
Lots of great presentations and thoughts being expressed.
Len Wilson has an impressive heritage in church media and now co-owns Midnight Oil productions who regularly produce class leading media resources for churches.
Chapter One – Understanding Digital Media The authors have done a fine job in this chapter of introducing the background and concept of digital media (and in fact new media).
As a professioanl educator I can see interesting links to Howard Gardner’s theory of Multiple Intelligences coming through quite strongly. It also gives a biblical background to why we use different media to communcate.
Of significant interest is the rise of participatory media and the effects as well as opportunities for the church as it promotes community and collaboration.
Quotable quotes (or what I underlined, highlighted or just liked!)
“We tend to overestimate the effect of technology in the short run and underestimate the effect in the long run.” Roy Amara pg 1
“…but as a ministry that uses video, audio, graphics, text, the internet, and other emerging technlogy applications to communicate the gospel. The more digital, narrative, participatory, and immersive, the better.” pg 7
“Ideas drive technology, not the other way around” pg 8
“Seemingly every ministry in the church will want to utilise them for it’s own needs” pg 8
My thought? Initially I thought, why produce a book about this stuff when we are all online and can communicate this way, but (of course) this book is not necessarily focussed at me and my team, it is perhpas more focussed at the traditional media person, who will read a book but never the link that you send them (you know who you are!) Whilst future chapters are very relevant to me, chapter one will engage pastors and others who are more comfortable with print media and need to be hand held down a path, but it is when you have an expert publication that they will accept the change
The Build:
A trip to my local EB Games yielded a Wii remote (AKA the Wiimote) for $69.95. These are available at most department stores (K-mart, Target and Big W) as well, but the price is very similar everywhere I looked. You can find them on eBay for about $10.00 less and sometimes even less for second hand ones.
The InfaRed (IR) pen meant a trip to see the very helpful guys at Jaycar electronics (Midland is my local store) Here I purchase a IR transmitting light emitting diode (LED) for the princely sum of $1,
a momentary switch for $1.20
and a AA battery holder for $0.61.
totalling $2.82!!
I located some old marker pens and removed the inners and assembled the IR pen as Johnny Lee suggests (simple circuit with IR LED, momentary switch and battery pack in a circuit,assembled inside of the old pen housing).
I tested the circuit by looking at the pen through my digital camera which displays the transmitting IR. (yes the first time I had reversed the polarity on the IR LED!)
The software:
Step one was to get the Wiimote to connect to the laptop via Bluetooth. This proved to be the most problematic as I could not make the internal blue tooth from my Toshiba laptop connect correctly (it kept locking the Wiimote up). I sourced some updated drivers which were duly downloaded and installed, which appeared to solve the connection issue.
Step two was to install the Wiimote whiteboard software. Again this did not work on the first
attempt and a trip to Johnny Lee’s site showed that I had a slightly older version. I upgraded and
instantly it connected correctly to the Wiimote and brought up the registration screen.
Using the IR pen I registered the 4 points it asked for and then away it went, working very well.
Issues:
Placement of the Wiimote is very crucial as it has a limited angle of view and needs to see the
entire screen. I note Johnny Lee’s small cradle device…perhaps this will be my next construction job!!
If all this is a bit gobbledegook for you, then i suggest you watch his video
Ok, this may not be big news for any reader outside of Australia, but the fact that today iTunes announced that it was going to start selling TV shows locally is HUGE! The price is $2.99 per episode which is bearable, but with exchange rates what they are it doesn’t compare to the US1.99 that is paid in the US. I’ll let you figure that one out!
The really interesting thing to note is that a number of the programs have been available for download for FREE up untill now, whether they continue to be or not is another question, that I cannot yet answer! But certainly the ability to get shows such as Lost at good quality and ad free for 2.99, it might just be worth it, especially for the die-hard fan.
You can of course add a Tv-tuner card to your PC, schedule recordings and then use a program like MCE-buddy to go through and extract the ads, and convert it inot an ipod compatible format, but really that is for Geeks only and yourt average iPod owner wouldn’t want to go to the trouble! Not to mention that technically it is illegal (whether the law is right or not is another question!)
Anyway my friends…go and download your fav TV show for 2.99 right here in Oz (finally we are catching up with the rest of the world!!!)
I’m sitting at my desk, it’s 6:30am local time and it’s a holiday here in Western Australia, so I’ve had a bit of a sleep in and am about to go outside and try to finish some paving I’ve been doing.
(edited) I have removed the embedded www.twitlive.tv show because it was really starting to annoy me everytime I opened the page!
what is facinating me is the sence of community that exists. There are more than 4,500 people on line watching live, there are 500 people in the chatroom commenting and there is another chatroom with another huge number of people. People are also commenting via Twitter.
People are conected and absorbed. I know I’ve spent most of the weekend in the backyard with the iPod stuck in my ears and listening to many different podcasts, TWIT among them…I feel part of the community, I feel a part of the family…
Is your church using new media to develop community? The TWIT network would be an interesting case study to replicate into the church setting.
VidBlaster
I was recently sent a pre-release copy of 
The InfaRed (IR) pen meant a trip to see the very helpful guys at Jaycar electronics (Midland is my local store) Here I purchase a 
a momentary switch for $1.20
and a AA battery holder for $0.61.
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